Curb Your Enthusiasm Is Either Ending Or Not Ending With Season 12, Depending On Who You Ask
Back when "Curb Your Enthusiasm" premiered in 2000, I don't think anyone expected the show would still be going 20+ years later. It's rare for any show to last that long, especially not a live-action one, and the series' cast and crew was already older than you'd expect from a typical sitcom.
It helps that "Curb" was never beholden to the requirements of other network shows of its time, back when 20+ episode seasons were the norm and they were expected to release on a regular basis. The seasons have always been only 10 episodes long and HBO's allowed Larry David and the rest of the cast/crew to take as many breaks as they've needed. But even with all these advantages, the show does have to end eventually — and if social media posts from the show's cast and crew are anything to go on, that ending might be coming soon.
Unless it's not.
In a since-deleted tweet, one of the show's writers and producers, Jon Hayman, wrote, "Maybe you love the show. Maybe you hate the show. Maybe you don't give a s**t. In any event, shooting the last scene of the last episode of the final season." Director and executive director Robert B Weide also posted a since-deleted tweet with an apparent allusion to the show ending.
Then there was Richard Lewis's tweet reading, "Hard to believe we started in 2000. The cast and crew all knew we were working for a genius. When that rarity happens, no one ever takes a moment for granted. We love you LD." He doesn't say "final season," but the tone is perhaps a little too sentimental for someone expecting a season 13. Then again, if Lewis is anything like his "Curb" persona, we know he's got a tendency to be a tad over-dramatic.
It'll end when it ends
Shortly after all this, however, executive producer Jeff Schaffer slammed his foot on the brakes. "Reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. We literally just finished shooting last week. So, yeah, we're done," he told Deadline, explaining that he, Larry David, and the rest of their collaborators have always hedged their bets upon completing a new season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
The lack of clarity over another season is simply part of an ongoing trend of how David approaches his show. Schaffer elaborated:
"My first season was Season 5. And you know what the final episode of that season was called? 'The End.' Not ironically. That was 15 years ago. So every season is the last season. It's been this way forever. Larry's put all the ideas he likes into the season. He's the only one who thinks he's never gonna have another good idea. So, of course, he's done for a while. But you know, usually he goes out and has spirited encounters with the westside of Los Angeles and then ideas come. So we're in the same spot we're always in. It's just business as usual."
Whatever happens, however, "Curb" fans can't really complain. A significant percentage of TV shows don't even make it past their first season, let alone their season 12. We've already seen how depressing sitcoms can get when they go on for way too long past their primes — so if David decides to end the show on season 12, good for him. As the David stand-in character George Costanza was once wisely told, "When you hit that high note, you say goodnight and walk off."
"Curb Your Enthusiasm" season 12 has yet to lock down a firm premiere date.